A Cool and Affordable Luxury

 Linen. For summer there is nothing like it!  I think of all my linen clothing as an investment and I wear them year round. With minimal care, they will last for years too, just like linen handwoven's.  While linen sheets for a king sized bed can be cost prohibitive, a pair (or more) of linen pillowcases isn't.



 These mint green beauties took about an hour and half in time and  $35.00 for 2.5 +- yards of good quality European linen. I utilized the pretty pale periwinkle blue selvage edge as the decorative band between the deep folded hem and the pillow case body and matched my thread to it for some simple top stitching. Pillow cases are one of the few home decorating type projects I like. I used a tutorial from Fabric of Visions blog here. I liked it better than the one I had previously followed and like the size and very generous hem this one calls for.

In sewing news, one top (Burda 7220) in voile has been completed



and another (Simplicity 2191) is in the works with a wonderful shirt weight Italian cotton.



I had to do some adjustments to Rhonda. It meant taking everything off of her and the two of us standing around in our skivvies while I measured and adjusted. Time consuming, but worth it since she's in service for most of my sewing. For those that are curious, we had to go down a bit in some places, not up.  ;) Lastly in sewing, I am finally going to cut into my treasured tomato red plaid for a jacket. It's been in the petting stash long enough!

Around the farm, the horses and donkeys had their feet trimmed yesterday. The new farrier Steve is now just Steve the farrier. Everyone has become accustomed to his way of working and it's all good. I need to get pics of the donkeys, they are finally looking pretty svelte.

Notable sightings around the farm have included a big Red Tailed Hawk, a fully mature Bald Eagle and of course, the usual residents, Chickadees, Nuthatches, wood peckers, wrens, sparrows and robins. The deer are out and about all over the mountain. Does and fawns are constantly crossing the roads now that the fawns are getting older. This is probably the most dangerous time for both drivers and deer. These two cuties were grazing with their Mommas last night while we watched them from our front porch.



 They finally got suspicious of the camera clicking (what hearing they've got!), and took off.



 I've spied my favorite little grey fox once or twice this week too. Gratefully, no raccoons or skunks.

The new warp for Murphy is in process. I'll work on it some more over the weekend along with writing out the prayers on the silks.



Parting shot: Comfort in closeness. These two are almost always touching at rest.

Faux Flax

Liesl's well traced pattern of my linen pants worked up PERFECTLY.

Of course there were no instructions, but it is also a fairly simple pattern. The pocket band gave me some headaches and the first one I had to rip out twice before getting it right.

The waistband was also a little challenging. I figured out they constructed it in two pieces, not the usual single waistband that may have seam in back. Once I accepted this, it was pretty easy to get it on and looking like the original.

I did have a little help with construction order. Way back I mentioned on one of my blog posts about the new ( at that time) Thread's Sewing Guide.

I liked the book when I bought it and felt it had a lot of good information, but was sceptical it was as good as my old favorite by Reader's Digest. Over the past months, I have found myself using it more often. No sewing book is ever really complete, not this one, not the Reader's Digest, but I'll tell you, this one comes darn close. The RD failed me in construction order. I didn't need long drawn out chapters for these pants, nor was I tailoring menswear. I just needed a down and dirty guide to the easiest way to assemble pants so I wouldn't be undoing something along the way. The Threads Guide to Sewing had it. It was just right for bringing order to my 7 piece pattern. They also have one for shirts.

Both handy to have especially if you are buying European patterns that may or may not have instructions in English or making your own up.

Over the week the other items to hit the sewing machine were the Sewing Workshop's Tosca Dress taken all the way down to a blouse, or at least a little "over blouse".

I managed to bring up those armholes something like 7 inches and keep the shape and grade of both neck and sides in tact.

It's the shape and drape (this one in a very nice rayon) that make this piece so fun. The big pleated pockets had to go but two smaller patch pockets did manage to make it on the top; side and back.

I resurrected the Burda 7220 pattern because this lovely India made cotton was yarn dyed, so the drapey neck would be the same inside and out.

A little fun was had with some bias cuts for yoke and the front bands and apologies because this was thrown on Rhonda crooked. The small embroidery detail is truly centered on the back yoke.

Still left to do over the weekend is the silk burnout. I saved the most challenging for last.

In other news, I'm hoping my farrier problems are behind me. In late November Morgan trimmed up everyone. I knew he was working out on a ranch beyond Christmas Valley, but he was hoping to make it out this way every couple of months. We set an appointment for Mid-late January. Not unusual for winter since the guys neither grow a lot of hoof in the winter nor do they get ridden. January came and went, calls were made and never returned. I waited and waited. It's an old story. Even after almost 10 years if I can't rely on someone ( no matter how much we love you Morgan)

I've got to do the best I can for the horses. The first recommended farrier said yes and then cancelled and then this week gave me the name of the second one on my list. I would have called him first actually but he lives in Eagle Point and I figured wouldn't want to travel so far. Well, it turns out Farrier Dos already has a client on the mountain, someone I don't know, and is more than willing to take on some additional work up here. HA! I've got 2 other people with 8 horses waiting and hoping this one works out. I'm sending up a small prayer to the powers that be!

Parting shot: Feel free to rub tummy at will and with abandon.

Robin loves to pull out and nest in the folded flannels I have on the bottom shelf.

Can it Get Any More Dreary?

Well, this is Oregon and it is late winter, so the answer is yes, but not much. It just seems worse since we have had a pretty dry cold and clear winter. Regardless, this past week and weekend the weather has been nap worthy. And yes, I have napped. Training actually! :) Teaching young dogs the benefits of napping is almost a requirement. Stella and Robin are working on becoming champion nappers. Of course this is after a 30 minute period of being the twin terrors, sticking nylabones or balls in my face. Then (when that doesn't rouse me to join in), using my poor prone body as vantage point for jumping on each other and in general making pests of themselves. But when they tuck in and get down to the business at hand, they snooze like Rip Van Winkle himself.

In our non -Rip moments, we have managed to get the Julia loom threaded up and ready for sleying, a towel finished and another started on the Hollandia warp and some thinking time in on the warp for the coat contrast fabric. In fact a lot of time on that. Looking at the two yarns with sparkle I noticed that they don't want you to iron them. This poses a problem as the collar really needs to be steamed and rolled into shape. I suspect I can do most of this carefully with a press cloth and some elbow grease on a slightly cooler than wool setting, but it has made me adjust what I am going to do as far as proportions of sparkle. Less is better so the weft will be mostly the plain but very soft and pretty ShiBui Staccato. Really the coat fabric has plenty o' sparkle all on it's own. I hope to get to the warping board with it all on Saturday.

I've tried out a couple new patterns and put away the Burda 7220. I can't believe how much I love this pattern. I did one more top out of it before folding it up and filing it for a little while. Since I loved the pattern it was only fitting I used a fabric I adored. The much coveted Stella print.

Why the heck should 10 year olds have all the fun? Who says we adults can't have fun with our prints once in a while?

The fashion police have bigger fish to fry in Ashland, believe me! There is nothing so entertaining than a small college town for interesting outfits. I've often thought of taking the camera to town with me, but then I think that some parent may stumble upon my site, see their child and maybe question why they are paying through the nose for said childs education.

Vogue 1247 is a well drafted, fun pattern to make, thrifty on the fabric too, but just didn't work for me style wise.

I used a sale fabric I had bought specifically for muslins so no loss stash wise. It's wearable, it's okay and will make a fine summer barn top but I won't be making it again.

On the other hand, The Sewing Workshop Tosca dress is turning out to be a winner.

It's not quite done but I enjoyed wearing the half sewn garment for a few moments yesterday when I did the try on. The pleated pockets took up the most time on this so far, but make the dress. It's so hard to capture any detail in this red fabric, but the link to the pattern will give you an idea of the cool pleated pockets. The Sewing Workshop also has a gallery where you can see just about all the patterns made up by SW and others. I've cut mine much shorter to be a tunic and I think I still need to take off some length, but I love it. I'm using a wonderful drapey linen and rayon blend. It has nice body and is a joy to work with. I also opted not to do the high pockets, although, I think I would like them on another edition of this pattern.

I need to finish this up and get to the two other cut patterns I have waiting before I'll start in on a new batch. Over the winter I have ruined two pairs of pants and a 3rd looks pretty worn. I'm hard on my clothes. I need to whip up a couple of pairs for my trip back east in April. I like to honor all those lobsters I'm going to consume by dressing well. ;)

The word in farm news is MUD. Yes, it is the same every spring, but is it nice to have a place to tuck the boys for feeding that is reasonably dry and not ankle sucking mud to slosh through to get their hay to them. I have only to go to the front windows, pull the hay containers out, fill them and then slip them back through to those waiting soft noses. The stalls have settled a bit and the very fronts do flood a tad, but come drier weather we'll build the stall floors up and fully mat them.

I have had to find a new farrier. Morgan, who has done my guys for 10 years, has moved out of the area. He was hoping to make it back for some customers every two months or so, but it's not happening. We're trying a new guy, highly recommended.

He'll be coming up March 5th and boy, everyone really needs a trim.

Parting shot: Snow Day-Last of the series. Happiness is a warm tractor hood.